12 minutes ago, buick said:

i took a car, rather than deal with the flight situation.  it is too difficult to get info at this point.  i went bkk to buriram so only 5 hrs, not too bad.  it was nice to be out on the road after being confined to my room or immediate vicinity of such for most of the last the last 18 months.  there was a plexigas separator btwn the driver area and back seat of the SUV that i rode in.  that was a nice touch.  i'd like to fly back to bkk and i'm going to give it a shot.  we'll see what happens.  leaving in 5 days.

I went to the airport to ask and they told me I only need my passport to fly into and out of bangkok which I find very hard to believe simply because what's the point of having red zones.  Ir they just trying to sell me a ticket and then I'm stuck in bangkok. You are right I think about driving I've read no road blocks from surat to bangkok but 9 hours if I dont get lost that is, but I'm thinking if cant get out of bangkok I will have my car so could find away

15 hours ago, malthebluff said:

I went to the airport to ask and they told me I only need my passport to fly into and out of bangkok which I find very hard to believe simply because what's the point of having red zones.  Ir they just trying to sell me a ticket and then I'm stuck in bangkok. You are right I think about driving I've read no road blocks from surat to bangkok but 9 hours if I dont get lost that is, but I'm thinking if cant get out of bangkok I will have my car so could find away

I'm afraid when you book with budget airlines, you usually only get budget customer service.

Have you checked the other airlines to see what procedures they have in place?

16 hours ago, malthebluff said:

I went to the airport to ask and they told me I only need my passport to fly into and out of bangkok which I find very hard to believe simply because what's the point of having red zones.  Ir they just trying to sell me a ticket and then I'm stuck in bangkok. You are right I think about driving I've read no road blocks from surat to bangkok but 9 hours if I dont get lost that is, but I'm thinking if cant get out of bangkok I will have my car so could find away

that is how i felt, no matter what answer i got, it could change over night.  my hotel here in buriram was adamant that i had to show my bkk ASQ papers.  i made it clear that i'd done that in july and they had no relevance to this trip.  but three different people on the phone confirmed these papers were requried.  when i checked in, no one asked for these papers.  and as i noted early in this thread, nok air was difficult to reach over the phone.  i can't wait on hold more than 15 minutes or so.  plus, i can't count on what they tell me anyway !!  i did go through a police checkpoint on the way to buriram from bkk but i didn't see many cars being stopped.  for a 9 hour drive, i'd suggest you spend the night somewhere.  that is too long for me.  good luck with journey.  maybe we can use planes next month.

6 hours ago, Will27 said:

I'm afraid when you book with budget airlines, you usually only get budget customer service.

Have you checked the other airlines to see what procedures they have in place?

Surat airport is having a huge revamp so not many kiosks open in fact I could only find 1 and they said not need anything so I called don mueang and bkk info they say the same only need passport then called again to bkk and was told needed a pcr test it's crazy nobody knows what the right rules are

I would think the this Thai Smile information piece is equally applicable to VietJet. Nothing required flying to Bangkok, flying back to Surat Thani you need to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result.

22 minutes ago, Stocky said:

I would think the this Thai Smile information piece is equally applicable to VietJet. Nothing required flying to Bangkok, flying back to Surat Thani you need to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result.

This is why its confusing. It makes sense travelling from a red zone. But when I went to the airport they told me only need a passport and so I called don mueang and bkk and was told the same, still unconvinced I called bkk again to be told i need a covid test, it's like they just trying to sell you a ticket so will say anything. But ive had a pcr test just in case